User:Aqwis/Education in Norway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
||
| Educational oversight
Minister of Knowledge
|
Kunnskapsdepartementet Øystein Djupedal |
|
| National education budget | Not available (N/A) | |
| Primary languages | Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk) | |
| National system Current system |
since 1990s |
|
| Literacy (2004) • Men • Women |
100% 100% 100% |
|
| Enrollment • Primary • Secondary • Post-secondary |
n/a 99.9% (graduating) Not available Not available |
|
| Attainment • Secondary diploma • Post-secondary diploma |
Not available Not available |
|
| Secondary and tertiary education divided in academic and vocational systems | ||
Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged 6-16. Before 1997, the mandatory education in Norway started at the age of 7. The school year in Norway runs from late August to mid June the coming year. The Christmas holiday from mid December to early January divides the Norwegian school year into two terms. The Norwegian school system can be divided into three parts: primary school (Barneskole, age 6-13), lower secondary school (Ungdomsskole, age 13-16), upper secondary school or high school (Videregående skole, age 16-19).
All public education in Norway, up to and including university levels, is free. From secondary school upwards, students buy their own books and pay for materials used, but there is no tuition fee.
Contents |
[edit] History of Education in Norway
Organized education in Norway dates as far back as medieval times. Shortly after Norway became an archdiocese in 1152, cathedral schools were constructed to educate priests in Trondheim, Oslo, Bergen and Hamar.
After the reformation of Norway in 1537 (Norway entered a personal union with Denmark in 1536) the cathedral schools were turned into Latin schools, and it was made obligatory for all market towns to have such a school.
In 1736 training in reading was made compulsory for all children, but it was not effective before some years later. In 1827, Norway introduced the "folkeskole", a primary school which became mandatory for 7 years in 1889 and 9 years in 1969. In the 1970s and 1980s, the "folkeskole" was abolished, and the "grunnskole" was introduced.
[edit] Mandatory Schooling (Grunnskole, age 6 to 16)
the mandatory schooling all children go through. (There are various pre-school kindergartens available, but these are not considered part of the school system.)
Over 95% of these students attend state schools.[citation needed] The remaining percents are distributed over private schools, so called friskoler (free schools, the government gives some 85% of the money the public school would have gotten to have you, to the private school you are attending. The student has to cover the extra charge)
The mandetory schooling is divided in two phases:
[edit] Elementary School (Barneskole, grades 1-7)
Children start elementary school at age 6. In the first year, the students are mostly playing educational games and learning social behaviour. First grade is dominated by physical activity and socialising. In grades 2 through 7, they are introduced to math, English, Norwegian, religion and gymnastics, followed by geography, history and society studies. No grades are given at this level.
[edit] Middle School/Junior High School (Ungdomsskole, grades 8-10)
Now starts the more serious part of the education. You get grades for your work, and the grades determine whether you will be accepted at your high school of choice. From eighth grade the students can choose one or more subjects themselves. Standard subjects are languages like German, French, Spanish and practical project work.
The two phases stem from Norway's former educational system (1889-1959), where only the first phase (7 yrs, age 7-14, called 'folkeskole') was mandatory.
Today's Grade scale is as follows, in order from best to worst:
- 6
- Excellent, harder to get than A+ (5%)
- 5
- Very good, equivalent with A- (15%)
- 4
- Good, equivalent with B (30%)
- 3
- Somewhat good, equivalent with C (30%)
- 2
- Bad, equivalent with D (15%)
- 1
- Failing grade, equivalent with F (less than 5%)
The teacher may put a + or - sign describing the grade weak or strong. He/she may even put a (i.e.) 4/5 or 5/4, saying the grade is stronger than 4+ but not quite a 5-, a 5/4 being closer to a 5 than the 4/5. The teacher can only do this on tests and end term tests (tentamen), not final exams or diplomas.
Grades before the L97 reform of 1997, in order from best to worst:
- S
- Svært godt/Exceptionally good
- M
- Meget godt/Very good
- G
- Godt/Good
- NG
- Noe godt/Somewhat good
- LG
- Lite godt/Little good, (failing grade)
[edit] High School (Videregående skole, age 16-19)
Videregående skole is 3 years of optional schooling, although recent changes to society (few jobs for 16-years olds) and law (government required by law of 1994 to offer secondary schooling in one form or another to everyone between 16 and 18 who submits the application form) has made it largely unavoidable in practice.
Secondary education in Norway is primarily based on public schools, attended by 96% of the students. Until 2005, Norwegian law held private secondary schools to be illegal unless they offered a 'religious or pedagogic alternative', meaning that the only private schools in existence were religious (Christian), Steiner/Waldorf and Montessori schools. The first 'standard' private High schools in Norway opened in the fall of 2005. After the election in the fall of 2005, that lead to a change of government to a socialdemocratic government, the private schools have been criticized by the minister of education (Kunnskapsministeren) Øystein Kåre Djupedal (Socialistic left).
High school used to have (before 1994) three main branches:
- General studies' ('studiespesialisering', formerly 'almennfag' and 'gymnas'), is all theoretical with standard subjects like history, geography, Norwegian and secondary languages. This was previously known as Examen artium
- Students pick a number of subjects for in-depth study. Standard across-the-board in-depth subjects include mathematics, physics, English or tertiary languages like German, French or Spanish. (Called tertiary here since English is secondary to Norwegian, but mandatory from 2nd grade, while German/French/Spanish is optional from 8th grade.)
- This is where you would go to prepare for higher education (college or university), or if you haven't decided yet - it's 'general', after all.
- Vocational studies' ('yrkesfag') is more practical oriented
- This is where you would go to become a mechanic, carpenter, or electrician.
- Mercantile studies' ('merkantile fag') was a separate branch (before 1994) dealing with trade- or office-related educations.
- This was where you would go to become a secretary, merchant or accountant.
- This branch is now integrated into 'general studies'.
Since the High school reform of 1994 ('Reform 94'), the branches have been merged into a single system. Among the goals of the reform was that a) everybody should get a dosis of 'general studies' large enough to make them eligible for higher education later, meaning more theory in vocational studies, and b) it should be possible to cross over from one education path to another without losing too much credit. In the old system your two years of carpentry would be wasted if you wanted to switch to general studies, in the new system you would keep credit for at least half of it. There exists public and private offers for adults (20+) that want secondary education or want to improve their grades before appying for higher education.
Fall 2006 a new reform 'Kunnskapsløftet' (Meaning 'Knowledge Lift' or 'Knowledge Promise') was started. A student will apply for a General education (Studiespesialisering) or a Vocational Studies (Yrkesfag) path. Inside these paths there are many other paths to follow. The new reform makes the incorporation of IT into the schooling mandetory, many counties (responsible for the public High Schools) offers laptops to General Studies students. Kunnskapsløftet makes it harder to switch betweens electives that you take in 2nd and 3rd year in the general studies path.
The grades are given in the same way as those given to middle school students. Before September 2006, a 0 grade was alongside 1 a failing grade but it was eliminated from the grading scale.
Graduating general studies students are called Russ in Norwegian. The period celbrating graduation for general studies students with lots of parties and festivities, surprisingly, takes place a few weeks before the final examinations of the final year.
[edit] Higher education
Higher education is in principle anything beyond High School, and normally lasts 3 years or more. To be accepted to higher education you must have taken General Studies while in High School, sometimes even special electives in 2nd and 3rd grade.
Higher education can be broadly divided into
[edit] Universities
Universities concentrate on theoretical subjects (arts, humanities, natural science, music). Supplies bachelor (3 yrs), master (5 yrs) and doctor (8 yrs) titles. Universities also run a number of professional studies, including law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and psychology, but these are generally separate departments that have little to do with the rest of the university.
- Grades (until 2003)
- Numeric scale 1.0-6.0 in 0.1 steps. 1.0 is best, 4.0-6.0 are failing grades. (Note the elegant inversion of the secondary education grade scale.) University grades did not use to be comparable across departments: A 1.0 in physics was not all that uncommon, while anything above 1.9 was unheard of in humanities, and the highest grade ever awarded in law was 2.15.
- Grades (present)
- Alphabetic scale A-F. The grades and grading scale are according to ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System).
- A
- best 10% (among those that pass)
- B
- next 25%
- C
- next 30%
- D
- next 25%
- E
- next 10%
- FX
- fail, some further work required. (Part of the ETCS scale. It remains to be seen whether it will be commonly used in Norway.)
- F
- fail, considerable further work required.
[edit] University Colleges (Høgskoler)
Norwegian university colleges supply a wide range of educations, including university bachelor degrees, engineering degrees and professional educations like teacher and nurse. Art schools, where you learn to become an artist, have traditionally minded their own business separate from other forms of education, but were recently redefined to be 'just another education' with the same requirements for study periods, exams and normalized grade assignments as the rest. Grades are the same as for universities.
[edit] Private schools
Private schools tend to specialize in subjects not offered by public schools, like business economics (microeconomics), marketing and MBAs. Again, private schools do not loom large on the horizon, although the fraction of students attending private schools is a whooping 10% in higher education, compared to 4% in secondary and 1.5% in primary education.
Grades vary between schools, but many private schools compete on the international market, or hope that their students will, so business education schools tend to use the US system (A-D and F, F is fail).
[edit] References
[edit] See also
Australia • Austria • Belgium • Brazil • Canada • China, People's Republic of (Hong Kong) • Colombia • Denmark • Egypt • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • India • Ireland • Israel • Japan • Italy • Mexico • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Romania • Russia • Singapore • South Korea • Spain • Sweden • United Kingdom • United States • More...
